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Snapdragon Productions in association with Park Theatre presents
Toast
Director
Eleanor Rhode
Set Designer
James Turner
Lighting Designer
Mike Robertson
Sound Designer
Max Pappenheim
Costume Designer
Holly Rose Henshaw
Biographies
Richard Bean | Playwright
Richard Bean was born in Hull in 1956. Toast was his first major play and was premiered at the Royal Court in 1999.
In 2011 Richard became the first writer to win the Evening Standard Award for Best Play for two plays, The Heretic and One Man, Two Guvnors. He was also awarded the 2011 Critics’ Circle Award for Best Play and the 2012 WhatsOnStage Award for Best New Comedy, both for One Man, Two Guvnors. The New York production of One Man, Two Guvnors was awarded the 2012 Outer Critics’ Circle Award for Outstanding New Broadway Play. His new play Pitcairn (for Out of Joint, Chichester Festival Theatre and Shakespeare’s Globe), tours from August and he has written the book for the new musical Made in Dagenham, which premieres in the West End in October.
Richard’s previous credits include Great Britain (National Theatre, 2014), Under the Whaleback (Wilma Theatre, 2013 and Royal Court, 2003), The Heretic (Royal Court, 2011), House of Games (adapted from the screenplay by David Mamet, Almeida Theatre, 2010), The Big Fellah (Out of Joint/ Lyric Hammersmith, 2010), England People Very Nice (National Theatre, 2009), The English Game (Headlong, UK Tour, 2008), Honeymoon Suite (Hull Truck, 2008), In the Club (Hampstead Theatre and UK Tour, 2007), Up On Roof (Hull Truck, 2006), The Hypochondriac (adapted from the original play by Molière, Almeida Theatre, 2005), Harvest (Royal Court, 2005), The God Botherers (Synapse Theatre, New York, 2004 and Bush Theatre, 2003), The Mentalists (National Theatre, 2002), Mr England (Sheffield Crucible), 2000), Of Rats and Men (Canal Café, 1996) and Paradise of Fools (Unicorn Arts Theatre, 1995).
Eleanor Rhode | Director
Eleanor trained at Mountview and the National Theatre Studio and is a former Staff Director at the National Theatre. Her recent productions include Thark by Ben Travers adapted by Clive Francis, two sell-out runs of Generous and the London premiere of The Drawer Boy by Michael Healey, both of which received Time Out’s Critics’ Choice, and the first London revival in over 30 years of A Life by Hugh Leonard (all Finborough Theatre).
Other directing includes The Gypsy Thread (National Theatre Studio), Can I Be Straight With You? (Bush Theatre), The Error of Their Ways (Cockpit Theatre), A Number (Camden People’s Theatre), This Lime Tree Bower (Edinburgh Festival) and staged readings of The Session (Pushkin House), The Promised Land (Tristan Bates), The Geese of Beverly Road (Theatre503), Photos of You Sleeping (Hampstead Theatre) and The December Man (L’homme de décembre), Sihanoukville and Barrow Hill (Finborough Theatre).
Eleanor works frequently on the development of new works, including with Paul Herzberg on the London premiere of The Dead Wait and with Rick Bland on Full of Bees (both Park Theatre). She is currently working on new plays by Sarah Grochala and Andrew Muir and a new musical for Centerstage Theatre, Seattle.
James Turner | Designer
James trained on the Motley Theatre Design Course. He won the 2013 Off-West End Award for Best Set Design for Mercury Fur. He previously designed the Snapdragon production of A Life at the Finborough Theatre (2012). His recent designs include John Ferguson and The Sluts of Sutton Drive (Finborough Theatre), Donkey Heart and Still Life/Red Peppers (Old Red Lion), Mercury Fur (Old Red Lion/Trafalgar Studios 2), The Hotel Plays (Langham Hotel), Our Ajax, I Am A Camera and Execution of Justice (Southwark Playhouse), Cuddles (Oval House), Cause Célèbre (Central School of Speech and Drama), Strong Arm and That Moment (Underbelly, Edinburgh), Thrill Me (Tristan Bates/ Charing Cross Theatre), Plain Jane (Royal Exchange Studio), No Wonder (Library Theatre), A Man of No Importance (Union Theatre/Arts Theatre).
His recent work as Associate Designer includes: A View from the Bridge (Young Vic), An Intervention (Watford Palace/Paines Plough), Jumpers for Goalposts (Bush Theatre/Paines Plough). He regularly works as an assistant designer to Ultz.
Mike Robertson | Lighting Designer
Mike is an Olivier Award winner for Sunday in the Park with George (Menier Chocolate Factory and Wyndham’s Theatre) and a What’s On Stage Award nominee for his design for On The Waterfront (Theatre Royal Haymarket). Mike’s design credits include Songs For A New World (Guildford), Cirque Berserk (Hackney Empire/Tour), Fascinating Aida (South Bank and Tours), 1002 Nights (Saudi Arabia), Hairspray (Kuala Lumpur/ Singapore), Keeler (Charing Cross), Piano Piano (Cottiers), The Dead Wait (Park Theatre), The Billie Holiday Story (Charing Cross), Gibraltar (Arcola Theatre), Dear World (Charing Cross Theatre for Gillian Lynne), Parade (Old Vic Tunnels), Volcano (Vaudeville), The Father and Fragile (Coventry), Riccardo Primo (RCM), Billy Liar (West Yorkshire Playhouse), The Showgirl Within, Beneath The Dress and Lynda Carter (Garrick Theatre), Verdict, Funny Peculiar, Larkrise to Candleford, Death & Gardening, Dry Rot and Murder On The Nile (National Tours), Educating Rita (Watermill Theatre), Wolfboy, Third Floor, Lifecoach and New Boy (Trafalgar Studios), Cabaret (Wilton’s Music Hall), Company (Southwark Playhouse), Seesaw and The Producers (Arts Ed), The Glee Club (Bolton Octagon), Othello (Birmingham Rep), Du Ska Fa En Dag I Mara and The Firework-Maker’s Daughter (Det Norske Teatret, Oslo), The Spring Proms (Royal Albert Hall), Days Of The Commune and Widows (RADA), Five Guys Named Moe, Hair and Deathtrap (Frankfurt), Too Close To The Sun (Comedy Theatre) and The Wood Demon (Playhouse Theatre).
Mike is a graduate of the Guildhall School Of Music and Drama. As well as lighting shows regionally, in the West End and internationally, he has designed for Television, Film and Architectural projects, culminating in designing the lighting for the Virgin Atlantic planes and the Airbus A380. He has just created the New Colour Blue series for global giant Lee Filters. One of the colours is now the 8th highest selling in the world.
Max Pappenheim | Sound Designer
Max makes his debut for Snapdragon with Toast. His previous sound design and original composition credits include Johnny Got His Gun, Three Sisters, Fiji Land, Our Ajax and Feathers in the Snow (Southwark Playhouse), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and The Archimedes Principle (Park Theatre), Fleabag (Soho Theatre, Associate Sound Designer), This Was A Man, Martine, Variation on a Theme, Black Jesus, The Precariat, Summer Day’s Dream, The Hospital at the Time of the Revolution, The Soft of Her Palm, Somersaults and The Fear of Breathing (Finborough Theatre), The Hotel Plays (Defibrillator at the Langham Hotel), Flight, The Mystery of Irma Vep, Trojan Women and Borderland (Brockley Jack Studio), The Island (Young Vic, Associate Sound Designer), Mrs. Lowry and Son (Trafalgar Studios), Freefall (New Theatre Studio, Wimbledon), CommonWealth (Almeida Theatre), Being Tommy Cooper (Yvonne Arnaud Theatre/National Tour), Awkward Conversations with Animals I’ve F*cked (Underbelly, Edinburgh), Below The Belt (Pleasance, Edinburgh), Word:Play NWxSW (Bolton Octagon/National Tour), The Ones Who Kill Shooting Stars (White Bear Theatre) and Four Corners, One Heart (Theatre503).
In 2012 he received an Off-West End Award nomination for his Sound Design for Kafka v Kafka at the Brockley Jack Studio and again in 2014 for his Sound Design and Original Composition for Martine at the Finborough Theatre and for his Sound Design for Johnny Got His Gun at the Southwark Playhouse.
Holly Rose Henshaw | Costume Designer
Holly trained at Central School of Speech and Drama studying Design for Stage with a specific interest in Costume Design. For Snapdragon, Holly designed the costumes for The Dead Wait, Thark (Park Theatre) and A Life (Finborough Theatre). Her previous design credits include Spring Awakening (Webber Douglas Studio), Beanfield (Bike Shed Exeter), The Bacchae, Rhinoceros and Ruddigore (Exeter Northcott Theatre) and Lysistrata (Exeter College).
As an assistant, Holly’s work includes Don Giovanni and The Tales of Hoffman (Diva Opera, European Tour 2014), The Kitchen (National Theatre), Below the Salt (Central School of Speech and Drama), The Olympic and Paralympic Ceremonies (London 2012), James and the Giant Peach, Romeo and Juliet and Richard III (Exeter Northcott Theatre).
Television and film credits include Art Department Assistant for JMW Turner directed by Mike Leigh, Hair and Makeup for the Shelter Christmas Campaign (Eye to Eye Television) and Costume, Hair & Makeup Assistant for True Stories (BBC Learning, BBC2 2011).
Snapdragon Productions | Producers
At Park Theatre, Snapdragon produced the revival of Ben Travers’ Aldwych Farce Thark, adapted by and starring Clive Francis, and the London premiere of the post-apartheid drama The Dead Wait by Paul Herzberg.
Snapdragon was founded in 2009 during Eleanor and Sarah’s residencies at the Finborough Theatre. Subsequently Snapdragon presented six production at the Finborough: the European premiere of Generous and the London Premiere of the multi-award winning The Drawer Boy, both by Michael Healey (both received Time Out’s Critics’ Choice), the world premiere of Barrow Hill by Jane Wainwright, the first London production in over 30 years of A Life by Hugh Leonard, the multi award- winning European Premiere of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Me and Juliet directed by Thom Southerland, and A Day at the Racists directed by Ryan McBride, which transferred to the Broadway Theatre Barking where it was nominated for the 2010 TMA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Regional Theatre. Other productions include Anna Karenina at the Arcola Theatre, directed by Max Webster.
Productions in development include a West End revival with QNQ Ltd., a major revival of A Bill of Divorcement by Clemence Dane, the world premieres of The Session by Andrew Muir and Smolensk by Sarah Grochala, a No. 1 UK Tour of Thark, and a repertory production of The Talley Trilogy: a trilogy of plays by Lanford Wilson. The trilogy includes the Pulitzer Prize Winning Talley’s Folly, and Snapdragon’s revival will see all three plays performed together in repertory for the first time.